Increasing Softness and Shine
by meganMAGMA
Summary: Zorah is an exsoccer player taken down by a horrible team mate. As her first wave of unadulterated loathing hits her, she notices the most attractive man that she has ever seen. It's impossible that he's human, so then...what is he?
1. Beginner's Lesson to Loathing

**DISCLAIMER: **There is no disclaimer except that if this resembles Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer it's because I'm addicted to Edward Cullen.

* * *

Zorah was a flash of golden hair and razor sharp turns and twists. She knocked people out left and right.  
The final task was to outdo Miranda with her stylish, flippant hair and idiotic way of breathing and her life would be set, but of course, Miranda saw her one weakness.  
Zorah's left knee, damaged from when she was young, was her counterpart in her game. It was the knee that she bounced the ball with  
and it was the knee of the leg that guarded that ball at all times. There was a rule against knowingly taking someone out because of a known injury, but  
who was really stopping the bestest, most perfect person ever? No one. With a swift downward kick, Zorah Christina Sparacello was down and silent.  
The crowd, silent, Miranda, wailing fake apologies, and her coach, crushed because one of her star players was just taken down by the other star player.

Zorah's parents rushed to her aide. Her darling, overprotective parents who ever since the events of her childhood, never seemed to have ever left her alone.  
Besides the fact that she was nearing eighteen, a girl just needed to breathe, so as soon as she saw them heading over she was begging that she die.

"Honey! Oh geeze! Are you okay?" Her mother, Adelaide, stressed, going over worst case scenarios in her darling little head.

"Mother, yes, I'm just fine, probably just re-tore the ligament. I'll be in next season, just right." Zorah hated seeing her mother in such a state  
and tried her best at downplaying the pain, but of course...

"Oh no you won't!" Her coach interrupted, "At leas not on my team and under my conditions. The most you could become is a towel girl. Sorry, Zoe." Her coach gave her a tired smile that was drenched with apologies and sorrow. Zorah had balanced out the team with her sense of fair game and with Miranda's ego the team  
was sure to win every time and now that was all gone. Her coach turned to leave as did the rest of the gathering crowd and Miranda Miller immediately  
stopped her apologizes and began, instead, sneering and mock crying. Zorah had never felt such intense loathing. Suddenly, out of her peripheral vision,  
Zorah caught sight of the most stunning man she had ever laid eyes on.

Other males might call him a lightweight, but from her experience of guys, she could tell he could pull his own and that he was made of muscle if not  
of something stronger. He stood out like a rose in a ream of daises within the crowd because, of all the normals just standing around awing over a  
wounded soccer player, he was the only one who looked apathetic, a quality Zorah found in herself, or at least thought that she did, and few others  
that she liked immensely. This was the first thing that occurred to Zorah. It didn't occur to her until much later that what also got her attention was the  
pale skin that radiated ice and the eyes that were almost black, but couldn't be, right? What kind of human has eyes that are completely black?

Maybe it was because he wasn't human, but that didn't occur to Zorah either. It also didn't seep in that she felt suddenly vulnerable to prying all of a sudden,  
and if it did seep in, she just attributed it to the torn ligament. Of all the things to happen within ten minutes, she didn't think that laying eyes on a vampire would  
be one of them.

As quick as Zorah had noticed **him **was as quickly as he slipped back away and Zorah's attention was drawn back to her teary-eyed mother and  
stone-faced father, Mitchell.


	2. Frederick Theodore Masen

**DISCLAIMER: **There is no disclaimer except that if this resembles Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer it's because I'm addicted to Edward Cullen.

* * *

"Frederick, school ended four hours ago; what was holding you up? You know that it worries me incessantly if you aren't home by the time I expect you by." 

"Why do you care if I attend school or not, Lena? I've been through high school a grand total of twenty times. I'd pass with flying colors even if I didn't attend."

"You know its not really going to school that I'm worried about. There are plenty of people out there more eager than they should be to kill us. It's sick and I worry about you. You can be so flamboyant about your status."

* * *

To a person who has no idea what is going on, it sounds like there is a kid who has attended high school twenty times, for reasons unknown, he has a status, which he is flamboyant about and there are people trying to kill them. It doesn't make a lot of sense and that's exactly how it's supposed to be.  
No one is supposed to know that these people are _vampires _and that they are forever living in secret and, at least this group of vampires,  
only feeding on animals and like so that they don't draw attention to themselves. It may seem like a sign of weakness that they only succumb to devouring animals blood,  
but isn't it better than, for instance, you losing your life? That's what I thought.

* * *

"So where were you?" Lena asked again, her patience, as always, staying even. 

"A soccer game, actually." Frederick replied with a smirk knowing this wasn't what Lena was expecting. Over the growing months, Frederick had done all he could to get Lena to slip up and get mad, turn anger on him, but she hadn't. She had withstood his odd behavior knowing he would, at some time, let up and return to his normal charming self.  
Cyrus, his "father", was more attuned to how Frederick was acting. He had done the same thing when he was Frederick's age,  
which is around one hundred years old, and he continues to give him time and space even though what Frederick wants is for Adonis to try and connect with him.  
It's hard when you feel as left out as Frederick does.

"You are so hard headed sometimes, you know." Lena replied, exasperated but continually sweet, "Next time just try and warn Vera or Stella before you go off and sit around in large groups of humans so that they can see how much different you are from them. You should really stop  
giving them the benefit of the doubt, Freddie. Humans can be so rash and harmful. It's there nature, it was our nature once. Stay away.  
Let them live their lives. Let us live ours. It was the way it was supposed to be."

It was black and white statements like that they made Frederick feel so alone and disconcerted. Something had to happen, there was something that was missing in his prolonged life and he couldn't place his finger on it. Maybe it had nothing to do with the humans and vampires, but it was something. It was something that Frederick had thought of, but then completely dismissed because he didn't want to focus on it. Focus on the fact that he had gone without that feeling that everyone else seemed to get. He wasn't loved. Well of course he was loved by his adoptive parents, Cyrus and Lena, and his brothers and sisters felt just as sisterly and brotherly back. But Vera had Samuel and Stella, Oliver. They had that person to go to when no one else understood. They have a nurturer, someone to pass their time which was especially nice for people like them, vampires, who had endless life and endless time to deal with. It was that one thing that Frederick subconsciously yearned for, it was for that reason that he ended up at that soccer game staring at the wounded player. She was pretty, in that way that people can't deny, but people don't make a big deal out of. She stared at him and he was almost sure she saw him for what he was.

**A freak.**


	3. Reprimands and Remembrances

**DISCLAIMER: **There is no disclaimer except that if this resembles Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer it's because I'm addicted to Edward Cullen.

**NOTE: **The reason that this is so long coming is because I have been working on kind of an information page for all the characters that can be updated and what not. That is all.

* * *

"A doctor visit, a call to the insurance, a year off of soccer, and giving your parents a heart attack. **All** of that was worth showing off in a dinky game that means nothing." Zorah's father hadn't even begun to unload of her. Zorah thought it would be in her best interest to just lay back and _take it_, but really. WHAT was the fun in that? 

"I had a chance so I took it and it was a mistake. That is all." Zorah muttered, almost under the radar.

"That is not all!!!" Mitchell's face was fire truck red and he was sputtering. Not a good sign for Zorah. Really why are her parents freaking out, or really her father? What were the events of her childhood?

_Let's go back to a day fifteen years ago; on the bright morning of April 25, 1992 Zorah and her mother were  
flitting around the mall, sniffing out the perfect birthday present for Zorah. After all, she was three. Her mother  
only turned her back for a minute, but that was all it took. A cold hand clung to Zorah's as she was led away.  
Zorah almost took no notice, she was three after all and a hand to hold was always nice. Of course, her mother  
realized immediately and raced after her only to find that the stranger let go instantly and in the second Adelaide  
took to console her child, the person disappeared. _

_Or how about to a day three years later, April 25, 1995, when Zorah had just turned six and was pumped about  
the party her mother was throwing her. Her father was on business as always on her birthday. Adelaide hired a clown  
from a miscellaneous service, the clown showed up right on time with expertly applied makeup not an inch of the original  
skin was showing, and got right to work blowing balloons. The clown steered way clear of the children except for Zorah  
who never was an inch from it. Adelaide, still on edge from this day two years ago, was side by side with Zorah, but when  
a fellow party-goer fell down Adelaide rushed to aide and Zorah and clown were gone. Adelaide was heartbroken and as  
guilty as ever, but out of no where Zorah returned six hours later. She had no recollection of how she returned home, but  
she was safe and that was all that worried her mother._

Her mother drilled into her head from that day forward about strangers and what had happened to her thus far so that by the time that Zorah turned seven she was an ace at stranger danger games and was never, to her mother's knowledge, led away by another cold hearted stranger. Of course, there was that time on the playground in sixth grade when someone called her name from across the soccer field and also when she turned thirteen and her mother let her go to the mall with some girlfriends and mysterious, yet attractive, young men followed her incessantly. Finally, her friends told the security guards and the men disappeared, the strange thing was, Zorah was never bothered by these happenings. It felt fine, almost normal, to see their faces, when she felt their skin. It was the same feeling that was aroused within her when she saw the man in the crowd at her game the evening before.

* * *

"You have a fractured leg, no soccer for at least six months, and please ,for me, as your doctor take it easy. You are a great athlete and if you just don't stress it and just relax and read a book all day, you'll be great." 

"Read a book every day for the next six months." Zorah was already hobbling out of there.

"You know what I mean Zorah." Her doctor added as she pushed Zorah into a wheelchair and wheeled her to the lobby where her parents were anxiously awaiting with that face on. It was the face they constantly wore around her. A look of never ending worry and disastrous ends. If she could only make that face go away. She hated her parents, but she loved her parents. They lived their lives most of the time just to keep her safe.

* * *

"School's almost over you know." Zorah said into the silent car, attempting to make conversation. 

"You've kept your grades reasonably well. You know we're proud, right?" Her mother responded, smiling into the rearview mirror. Her father had taken his car to go right to work, it was only her mother and her, Zorah was spread out in the backseat. Her leg was all cast up and her mother practically forced her to lay longways in the backseat. She was perfectly capable to just sit like a normal person, but, come on, this was Adelaide Sparacello we're talking about.

The ride home was as quiet and uneventful as Zorah had expected, but unexpectedly the time it left her with she spent thinking about the dashing young man. His face never left her mind and when she closed her eyes, it was his face that lay behind her eyelids.

* * *


	4. Dear Friend Mila Jacobs

Days passed. Moments upon moments were solidified into a complete solid horrible mass of Zorah's life.

"Zorah! Don't stand up!" "Zorah!! Take it easy." "Zorah. Let me spoon feed you." [from the lips of her parents

"I CAN DO IT MYSELF. I'M NOT A VEGETABLE!!" [Zorah

But Zorah acquiesced to her doctor's commands. She read her books and watched her shows. A happy coincidence was that they were all vampiric in relation. No big, right? Vampires are not real...

* * *

He showed up to every soccer game within the district and stalked the halls of the school he went to. He never saw her swish of blonde hair or the searing glare of her hazel eyes. She was distinct and she stood out and she enticed him from her first glance. And yet, she was no where to be found. 

"Frederick, eyes to the front please! Pay attention and make sure to be taking notes. This _will _be on the final exam." Frederick's teacher, Mr. Goldenbum, was one of the only teachers that still refused to take notice of his ability to not pay one decibel of attention and ace **all **of the test plus all the bonus.

Frederick sighed and raised his eyes to a level point. Maybe it was good on him that someone did not let him off easy, and besides it was just as easy to zone out and think of this girl while staring straight ahead.

* * *

"Why is it that vampire detectives are so popular?! Why not vampire doctors, or vampire podiatrists, or vampire school teachers?" Mila Jacobs rang off in a sing song voice. Zorah threw her head back in a laugh. Zorah had taken a liking to vampire T.V. shows like Blood Ties and, the newest one, Moonlight. She had also taken a liking to forcing her "BFF Forever" Mila to come over and watch them with her.

Zorah entertained herself with the thought of a vampire school teacher that would suck your life out if you failed a test. Now that was funny since she would have been long gone now. Failing Spanish tests were her specialty actually. Zorah casted a sideways glance to Mila who had draped her long limbs on the loveseat beside her.

"I hate my parents, Milly. They are so overpowering and I wish they would just let me be...me." Zorah felt her whole body sink and it wasn't because of feelings. Mila's body pressed itself against hers and Zorah let herself be hugged.

"Really Zorah, everyone has a personal vendetta against their parents. It's purely teen spirit and soul." Zorah stifled a giggle in Mila's shoulder.

"I met a boy." Zorah blurted out, knowing her friend would want to know. Almost immediately there was a deafening screech and Zorah felt herself crushed like velvet against her friend's bosom.

"No way! Why didn't you tell me before?" Mila reduced herself to near tears of desperation.

"Well, actually, I didn't meet him. I saw him and he was staring at me, when I was down on the field. But Mila, dear Lord, he is the most attractive man ever." Mila's eyes lit up and she smiled earnestly.

"What did he look like?" When Mila usually asks this question the first thing she would like to hear is a "what kind of name does he look like" type of thing and then the description.

"Uhm. He looks like a...Fred? Freddie?"

"Frederick?" Mila quickly interrupted. Zorah smiled in spite of herself. Mila was a sweetheart and her best friend since forever. What a good thing friends turn out to be. Zorah and Mila sat there seemingly mulling over Frederick as name for this potential love.

"I'm not going anywhere to see any boys with this leg and my mother up my butt on all things. So this little escape from reality will have to wait until I'm fully healed." The statement made her heart jumble and her reality and fantasy started blurring.

"Unless. We devised an escape and you laid in my bed as me and I hobble to find my Fred Freddie Frederick." It was a funny idea and the pain wasn't something Zorah could say she'd be looking forward to so she just laid back and closed her eyes. Exhaustion tugged at the corners of her mind and Mila's sweet voice wavered in her ears.

"It was darling to see you, Zoe. We'll discuss more deeply of Fredddderick at a later time." Mila whispered within an inch of Zorah's ear and then she stepped out, determined to weed out Frederick for her disabled best friend.


End file.
